


Small Town Date

by metall



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Aimless Renegade cameo, Humanstuck, M/M, Promstuck, Windswept Questant cameo, feminine transboy karkat 4 life, its only technically promstuck heh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-29
Updated: 2015-07-12
Packaged: 2018-04-06 21:02:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4236504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/metall/pseuds/metall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dave works at a diner and meets a boy alone on his prom night.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just something that kept me busy. Enjoy!

You're working late, covering for someone, really, scrubbing at old coffee stains in the shitty wood counter and serving to old people's every needs. You've also noticed there's a lot of younger kids in tuxedos, suits, and dresses. Big ass sparkly dresses, and on top of that, is the dead giveaway: corsages on girls' wrists. It's a local high school prom night. Which is good for business, you guess, more tips for you and less stank of old pruney elders.

To clarify: you are not a high schooler, you are Dave Strider, sophomore in college, and you work at a 24-hour diner in Texas. Looking around, there's lots of couples, but at one booth, sits a dark-haired kid in a white button-up and slacks, staring out the window with his coffee all alone. He's in your section, so you approach him with your pad of paper and pen.

"Good evening, welcome to CoCo's Diner, are you ready to order?" You recite, watching him just about startle and look up at you. He looks Mexican, and very feminine. He may not be a he, just a girl in a button-up for all you know, they could tell you they're a girl or a boy and you'd believe either one.

...Rose would hit you over the head for thinking something so fucking ignorant.

The person speaks up, clearing their throat, "No, thanks." They take another sip of coffee and look back out the window.

You take that response without question and retreat back to your spot behind the counter and sit on a stool, watching for tables who look like they're waiting for assistance.

Your co worker comes over and joins you behind the counter on the row of stools. She's a nice, sometimes sassy girl named Peregrine. Obviously, the name's weird as fuck, and when you asked about it she joked "my parents like birds." That was enough for you.

"Pretty busy tonight, yeah?" She says to you, and you nod back to her. "Did you talk to that kid, he's the only one over there all alone."

"I noticed. But no, I didn't talk to them."

"What an unfortunate night to be here like that."

You don't wanna pity the kid, so you shrug, then you're waved over by a group of three old men who would like their bill. You quickly produce it and walk away to allow them their privacy or whatever.

A hot plate is slid onto the counter from the kitchen, so you pick it up and deliver it to its table before reciting the usual script, "Can I get y'all anything?" The table unanimously agrees that, no, they don't need anything.

You're allowed a moment to sit down again and then Peregrine gets up to help someone in her section, so you're sort of sitting there alone looking around. Everyone appears to be temporarily satisfied, except the kid by themself, who looks to be out of coffee.

You go over to them, pouring a new cup, and they politely nod some sort of thanks. A little shy, you think. You're a little curious, so you talk to them.

"Mind if I sit?"

The high schooler bites their lip a little but nods, watching you in an almost... Suspicious fashion. You sit down and put the coffee pot down.

"Y'get date-ditched?" You ask, and you think the person expected the question because there's a small sigh from them. It's subtle and quiet, but there.

"No, we planned to go our separate ways." Something about the way that's said leaves you with a suspicious over their genuineness.

"Is that sarcasm?"

"What, no. I'm serious. She wanted to go with a boy because she's not out to her parents yet, so we went together and then we separated." The small explanation he quickly blurt out seems to surprise even him, like he didn't mean to say it. "Not that it's your business." You hit the nail right on the head with that one.

You laugh, putting your arms on the table and overlapping themselves over each other, "So you were her beard?"

"We were each other's beards- why the fuck do you care!" There's a tinge of pink that comes over his face, like he certainly didn't mean to say THAT.

You laugh again, "I was just curious I guess. If you haven't noticed, you're the only one in here dressed up without a date."

The kid's eyes skim over the tables behind you before he focuses back on your face and begins to drink his coffee almost in an angry fashion. The guy is straight up chugging it.

You're pretty sure he's also on his third cup and it's almost 11PM-- the kid must love pulling accidental all nighters. You then notice he has circles forming under his eyes. Poor guy. He looks young too, like he's an underclassman. His date must be an upperclassman, you think.

That prompts you to ask, without regard for possible reactions, "What year are you?"

Somehow, he picks up on exactly where that was going, "I'm eighteen, a senior. I know, baby-faced dwarf, that's me." Oh shit.

Admittedly, he's pretty spot on. You thought he was a girl earlier. Baby-faced describes him fairly well too; soft features, no facial hair, no acne, round eyes, and pretty short. It'd be hard to tell with anyone else when they're sitting, but this guy can't be taller than five feet.

"Oh. Damn dude, you could've fooled me. But I'm pretty sure dwarves are like, at least five foot three."

"Oh fuck you, okay, two inches of difference means nothing." The way he says the insult, you can tell he's not serious about it. Possibly even enjoying the conversation. You know you are.

You also notice he says two inches of difference, which means he's actually an inch taller than you thought. You internally sarcastically applaud him.

"You measure without shoes on, right? Because then it doesn't count." You retort, poking fun at him a little.

"You're the shittiest waiter I've ever met. Do you insult all your customers?" Peregrine passes you by, apparently doing you a favor and picking up the slack you accidentally missed. You should be getting off your shift soon, anyway.

"Yeah actually, I hold state record for crying customers. I don't remember the last time someone walked out without bawling their eyes out." The corner of your mouth turns up in almost a smirk.

"I'm not crying yet, I have a feeling you're lying to me." The guy shifts a little, tucking his feet under his legs. That's kind of a weird way to sit in a booth, but alright.

"I'm getting there, hold your damn horses."

As if he's been continuously keeping up a façade of intimidating anger, his expression breaks into a coy smile and he looks down into his coffee. Cute.

"I've done it again, breaking the customers of CoCo's." You joke.

"I'm still not crying, your record is in jeopardy until I weep like a baby." He's back to his pointed angry look.

"Psh, lighten up man."

"I'm just saying, I expect the big guns."

"Right, well, show's not over. If you still want me to come through on that though, I get off work soon."

And just as quickly as he broke that smile, he broke his angry expression and looked almost dumbfounded. Yeah, you think dumbfounded describes it well. The guy stirs his coffee in a profuse fashion and you think you've put him on the spot, embarrassing him.

You take your arms off the table and look back at Peregrine, who looks like she's doing alright on her own.

"Um, yeah, about that." You look at him and he's looking at the floor, "Sounds cool. I mean, hanging out with you or whatever, not being hypothetically insulted to tears." You snort.

"M'name's Dave."

"Of course it is. Also, you're wearing a nametag."

You look down at it and cover the name before pointing at your face. "My eyes are up here, asshole." That gets a funny little laugh out of him. "I was kind of prompting for yours, actually."

He brings his cup (which you're pretty sure he's emptied by now) up to his face and mumbles something into it that sounds like kitkat. If he was named after a candy, you would lose your shit right there.

"Say again?" You ask.

"Karkat."

"Like..."

"Yes, car and cat. But with K's and one word."

"Karkat. It's interesting to say the least."

He gives you a look that says he doesn't pride himself on how "interesting" his name is. This guy is really expressive too.

Peregrine comes over and asks Karkat if he'd like his check, which he replies to in a somewhat more polite and shy voice that, yes, he'll take the check. Then she tells you that your shift is over and you can go if you sign out, so you look at Karkat and tell him you'll be right back before you get up out of the booth and go into the back room.

You tell Peregrine to let you take Karkat's check and she shakes her head at you like you're silly or something. But you pay for it anyway and come out to sit with Karkat again.

He looks you up and down briefly, "Do you have the check, I'm done here."

"No, don't worry about it."

"What do you.. Oh, come on. It's less than five dollars, let me pay for my own drink."

You make up some bullshit for your petty flirting, "Your senior prom was kind of ruined, jus' lemme do this much."

There's some gears turning in his head like he wants to protest more but doesn't.

"Wanna go then?"

Karkat stands up and you follow lead, realizing just how short he really is, especially in comparison to you, and you think he's noticing the difference like you are. In fact, he looks mad about it, or his expression just has that extra pinch of anger in it.

You're beginning to become convinced his resting face IS angry, and somehow that works, like he's just usually like that, but in a non-scary way.

Karkat asks you where the both of you are going and you say you don't know, which is true, because you're still wondering about that. He scoffs but you think he's intrigued, which is what you're hoping for because you do like him.

After asking a few questions, inconspicuously getting an idea on where to go first, the both of you land in an old wood-fire pizza parlor to get a couple slices to go, and then you take him to a park-like place where you can just talk. It's on a hill and peacefully dark, and as a plus, it's so late at night no one is around or there to make noise.

So talk you do, and you learn Karkat has a big brother, two parents, and a couple of pet hermits, he also likes video games and does some coding, and he has a lot of internet friends. You tell him you do too, although what little he has to say about his own friends is very funny and very interesting.

Karkat also tells you what high school he's going to and tells you some stories about his time there, all of which are thoroughly hilarious, and you conclude he's a pretty good story teller, to say the least.

Of course, he asks similar things that you asked him, so you tell him about your family of two, although you moved out as soon as you could so you don't see your brother much, but leave out that it's on purpose. You tell him you've never had pets because your house was always too dangerous and you don't know how to take care of one in the first place, and for some reason that makes him laugh.

He also asks about your high school experience so you tell him you went to a high school about two counties over and it was "just okay". You keep it curt because you never found it very interesting and your life was mostly pretty mundane and you think Karkat gets that.

Quickly enough, you're in comfortable silence and watching the distant lights of businesses and cars and street lamps and you can't help think that, firstly, the view would be a pretty cool poster or album art, and secondarily, you accidentally made this super cheesy-romantic.

You're also fairly sure Karkat is totally buying into it and you're even more sure when your sides are touching and his hand twitches next to yours in the grass like he's waiting for someone to make a real move. And you're pretty tempted, you think you're feeding into your own unintentional romance scene.

He asks you about your dating life actually, which guarantees you're on a very similar thought track.

What do you mean, you ask.

I don't know, just, who was the last person you saw, he requests, still looking out over the lit up horizon.

You tell Karkat about this nice girl you used to know who had crazy black hair and a one-of-a-kind laugh that was both scary as hell and admirable. You also tell him that she was blind but she never seemed lost in where she was going, which was just another -ism of hers. But you conclude by telling him you were just too good as friends and nothing else and he nods thoughtfully.

"Why do you ask about that, anyway?" Not that you're offended by something personal, but it is a little unexpected.

"I dunno. I'm just wondering.. Curious, I guess."

"Curious?"

"Yeah."

You look at the cars below too, remaining quiet for the time being.

"Curious about what?" You then add.

"Um." He starts. You feel a little self conscious suddenly, "Texas is... Texas. A random guy sort of asks me on a date-type thing, I don't know what to think. Are you actually even queer?"

Woah, now you're a little offended, "Damn, at least you're not stepping around the subject. What do you mean am I even _actually_ queer?"

"Well fuck, I didn't really mean it like- okay, I just have a little doubt, you could be pulling some elaborate malicious prank on me for all I know, there could be cameras in those bushes at the ready, prepared to film my humiliated face when you call me a fag and make me eat dirt."

"That got... Really elaborate." He rolls his eyes. "Is it 'cause I said I dated a girl?"

"Maybe a little, but mostly because I'm paranoid about this shit."

"Fair enough.. But damn, maybe I don't mind either which way. This isn't some prank, man, don't worry about it."

"Oh great, I'm told not to worry, all my nerves are calmed."

You kind of feel bad, if he hadn't previously accidentally blurted out he's gay, you'd probably feel pretty similar. And, considering that, you try to provide a bit of reassurance that you think you would want if you were in his position, and take his hand in yours, intertwining your fingers together.

Karkat just stares at your hands, like he is completely enamored by the jigsaw puzzle of palms and phalanges, and for the near-dozenth time, you think, "Cute." He really is.

He looks up at you, almost starstruck, as if holding hands is the motherfucking present he's been wanting all year for his birthday, and then he straightens up to kiss you on the cheek, so painfully close to the corner of your lips.

Despite his grumpy exterior, you think Karkat is surprisingly sweet and down to earth, and on top of it, you're beginning to think, "holy shit I've met my other half." Which is, of course, shockingly intrusive, but there it is.

After a while, you get off the grass to walk back into town and you offer to drive him home. He nearly shouts, why the fuck were we walking when you have a goddamn car, but you think you can tell now that he's not really upset.

He lets you drive him, with his directions, and stop in front of his house to say your goodbye's. You tell him you hope his prom night didn't totally suck and he jokes that, yeah, it blew. You laugh.

Before Karkat exits your car, he demands for your phone and puts his phone number into it (thank god, because you almost forgot), then he kisses your cheek again and runs to his front door. Somehow something so innocent is totally working on you, too.

You drive away when the door closes and your phone is already buzzing. At a stop light, you read the text and see that Karkat sent himself message from your phone that says "I'm Dave and I have crabs." That dork replied to his own message with "I know."

By some miracle, you are attracted to someone who does something like that and your stomach is doing acrobatic fucking pirouettes. You cannot believe even yourself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was encouraged to make another chapter and had not much else to do, so here it is. Enjoy?

Alright, just as a brief recap, you saw this boy at your work the other night and he's just been invading your mind. He was so grumpy and cute and now you're trying not to bother him because he probably has school but you kind of want to ask to see him again. You're relatively responsible though, so you give him some space that you think is reasonable and go to work instead.

Today it's you and four other people, since it's daytime and approaching rush hour, so you're not forced to hold up another person and also be held up by someone in order to not get a bunch of angry customers. It also gives you some leniency in relaxing because there's just enough people that you don't always have to be preoccupied.

You look through a newspaper sitting on the counter and slowly turn on a stool when your coworker Wade leans against the counter and looks over at the paper you're holding. "Is there any Calvin and Hobbes this week?"

If you don't check for him, he's likely to snatch the paper out of your hands, so you turn to the comics and skim over them, "Nah, sorry man."

He shakes his head and walks into the kitchen, leaving you to look at this news stuff you don't actually care about.

Peregrine is also working today, as well as a chick and this short stocky guy you kind of avoid. He's a little weird. They're all pretty tired looking right now, but bustling around as usual.

Your section is typically emptier because it's by the door, and no one wants to sit over there, so you get a few minutes of time to do nothing in between checking on customers, and you spend it wisely- looking bored and like you hate your job. You don't love it though.

Your disinterested reading is interrupted by someone sitting directly in front of you, on the customer's side, so you try to look like a caring employee by putting the newspaper down- oh. It's Karkat.

"I'd appreciate you doing your job and getting me coffee." You think he's pretending to scold you. Either way, you reach under the counter and slide a cup over to him.

"Hey." You get up and grab a coffee pot to pour it for him. "D'ya want cream or something or are you always a sadistic masochist and drink it black?"

"The latter, thanks." He wraps his hands around the cup and takes a sip.

He looks cold, layered in what looks like two shirts and a coat, so you suppose the weather isn't that great today. You were only outside for about five minutes total and don't really care for weather forecasts, so you wouldn't know what it's like right now.

"What time is it, I thought you'd be in school around now?" You ask him.

"Like, three. School got out over half an hour ago." He scoffs.

"Really." It's not much of a real question, but it does surprise you a little.

You look around and see a table in your section looks about ready to order, so you tell Karkat you'll be right back and go to talk to them. You put on the "Hi I'm Dave and I'll be your server today, what can I get you" act and scribble down whatever they tell you they want.

You go back to hang up the order in the kitchen and sit back down with Karkat, seeing he's scribbled over the face of some guy on the front page of the newspaper in crayon he found. He's currently making a speech bubble but it looks like his blocky, capitalized writing, is too large for the bubble. You give it a crooked smirk, amused.

He appears to be done vandalizing some Donald Trump looking motherfucker and glances up at you, "When do you get off?"

You consider saying something snarky but resist doing so, "In a little less than an hour."

"Cool.." You watch him, knowing he wants to say something, but refuse to bug him.

"Like, cooler than you."

"That's not even clever." Karkat gives you another grump face and picks the crayon back up.

You're reminded of why you started to think you like him.

He bows his head as he scribbles some more on your paper; you watch him work and how intent he is on vandalizing boring material. It's almost interesting, how much intention goes into it and yet it's so...mediocre. Haha, you're a dick.

Karkat looks up at you, "What?"

"Hm. Nothing, just watching you do that. Making your statement."

"Uh huh, what statement am I making?"

"Well you're totally making a downright fool of this crapsucker, who appears to be a carbon copy of the office CEO kinda guy. You can really be saying a variety of things. Screw capitalism? I dunno. This guy's company ruins the sanctity of family? You tell me."

Karkat laughs at you, "You're so full of shit."

You shrug in response, knowing you couldn't deny that.

He chews on a drawstring and looks down at the paper before turning it over; looks like he grew bored of it.

Karkat stays there for the remainder of your shift, patiently waiting when you have to go talk to someone and actually work, keeping you busy when you're not. He's a cool guy.

When you go and hang up your apron and sign out, he comes with you then too, and appears to finally work up the nerve to say what you think he's been wanting to ask.

"Hey, Dave, that's a really funny tangent you're going on, but I wanted to ask real quick. Ask you a question, I mean. That's obvious, uh." He watches his feet as you walk together, "Do you wanna come over today? It doesn't have to be today, but.." He laughs under his breath in a nervous fashion.

"Yeah, sure. That doesn't sound too bad." You'd do something like hold his hand again but you're not sure if you're allowed, especially in public. "Did you wanna go now, I have my car in the diner parking lot?"

Your response seems to reassure him, his shoulders aren't so tense all of a sudden, "Oh, yeah."

You wonder a bit if he's dated before, or just not very much, because he's all bashful as hell. It's appealing in a "oh, how cute" way, but you also feel like if you surprised him that he would have a heart attack or something.

Luckily you're not so fragile, because on your walk back to your car, Karkat is basically on your side and has taken your arm. Fuck, he's adorable.

With Karkat's direction, you're guided back to his home, which you notice is fairly different in daylight and you'd probably get lost if not for his wild gestures. You park along the curb and look out the window at it, suddenly realizing that he's still in high school for a couple months and most definitely lives with his parents, and in turn, means you'll meet them.

Not that you have a problem with parents, and Karkat isn't telling you anything about "don't do this or that", so you think if you just stay cool you won't piss anyone off.

Anyway, you get out of the car and follow Karkat up to the door, and he's still not looking at you or talking about it, so you don't either. He opens it up and lets you in, meanwhile you look around, seeing that it's pretty typical and homely, smells like food, and there's definitely other people around.

In fact, a woman is suddenly calling out in Spanish, but you don't understand anything.

Karkat responds to her, "Hola mamá. Me voy a mi habitación."

Well then.

The woman responds, "De un minuto, Karkat, a un minuto," and then she comes into view, holding a large wooden spoon. "Ay mijo, who is this?"

Karkat leans over to you, "This is my mom. Mom, this is Dave."

You haven't had this kind of confrontation in a while, but you try to keep it polite because that just seems appropriate and you're not sure being a smartass would go in your favor. "Hello."

"Hola Dave, nice to meet you. Are you staying for dinner?" She has a great big smile on her face, and you think she may just be dying to make a batch of homemade waffles and brownies just for you. In other words, she seems really nice.

You look at Karkat, unsure if you were invited for that, "If it's alright with you."

Karkat opens his mouth and his mom stops him like she's preventing a verbal storm, "Of course, of course. It was nice to meet you, Dave. I'll call you down for dinner, Kar."

Haha, Kar. You look at him, "Was Kar your idea?"

He hits you in the arm, "Shut up."

Karkat just about storms up a staircase, so you follow, looking at the portraits and paintings on the wall leading up to a second story. It looks like he may have a sibling, and a brawny looking father who looks like he could make anyone shit their pants.

He leads into a bedroom and you see a boy much taller than Karkat and very similar looking to him, watching you two, and you say hi. Karkat tells you to shut up and move, so you do, confused.

"He's annoying, best to avoid at all costs." You're standing in the middle of his room and Karkat's shutting his door, so you get a good look around.

It's relatively neat-- not messy. He's got dark blue walls, plastered in drawings, posters, and cheesy pictures. There's a wooden desk taking up most of a wall, filled with comics and books, with a computer centered on it. Then, of course, there's his bed all messy with plaid blankets and comforters, and a couch that could easily be called a loveseat facing the desk.

Oh shit, and a tank. With a pet. "Who's that." You point at it, now really intrigued.

Karkat turns to look where you're pointing and walks to pick up the tank from its shelf. He has to go on his tiptoes for such a task.

You look into it, seeing it's a little black and grey crab, and he says "This is my crab. It has a lot of names, like Crabdad, Mayor, Karcrab. None of those were my ideas for the record, don't start fucking laughing."

"No, never." You say, a rather smug grin on your face, "Y'like crabs?"

"Kinda." He walks over to the loveseat and sets the tank down to open the lid and reaches in, lifting the crab. You're expecting it to pinch him the whole time.

Karkat approaches you and holds him up, so you (reluctantly) lightly pet its shell. "Cool." The little thing opens its claws at you, making you put your hands down.

"He's not gonna pinch you, dumbass." Karkat rolls his eyes.

"He might." You retort.

He tsk's at you and turns to put his small pet back in its tank, rearranging things while he's at it, you think. Then the tank is returned to its spot, and you stare at it.

You sit on his bed, crossing a leg over a knee and fixing your hair. Messing with it, rather. While you're doing that, you feel the bed sink next to you, then Karkat's thigh is touching yours. Damn, he's good. You may have underestimated him.

You look at him and he's... Kind of looking at you. You think he's trying to, but is a bit too shy for pseudo eye contact in close proximity.

"Do you always wear those glasses?" He asks, a question you are never surprised for.

"Yeah."

"Oh." You count the seconds until the follow up question, "Do you have really sensitive eyes or something.. You a really convincing seeing-blind-man?"

"Ha ha. No, it's the former. Too much light kinda fucks me up, and light ain't gentle."

"God, shut up." He laughs despite his verbal frustration.

After a few seconds, he continues, "Even during night, huh?"

"It's those damn fluorescents." You say, with the tone of joking.

There's another few seconds of nothing and you're trying not to be afraid of tension, "I had a good time with you the other night." Karkat tells you, and when you look back at his face, he's blushing.

"I did too." You lean over a bit so your shoulders are touching as well and you swear Karkat just gets brighter like the little tomato he is. At this rate, all his blood might go to his head and he could pop.

Karkat doesn't say anything else, you think he's become too shy again, which is fine. You don't want his tomato head to go rolling. But when you see his hand flex and clench shut, you get an idea of what he's thinking about, so you slide your hand across his palm to get him to open it and hold his hand, fingers weaved together and all.

Once again, he seems to mellow out a bit, and looks up at you with his big brown eyes. The southern part in you says "he got purty eyes," which you try to ignore because if you think about that again you might do something like burst out laughing and piss someone off, and you don't think it needs reminding that you came here to not do that exact thing.

Anyway, Karkat's looking at you, kind of inspecting, and once again his transparent little wheels are seen turning in his head, and you wonder what it is this time. Although, honestly, you think you know, which is just another reason you're intrigued. It's a slightly stressful game of "will he, won't he", mostly because you would hate to be the guy to move in on him when he's so seemingly innocent and would rather he give you a sign of what he does want.

Karkat makes that part easier for you. He's making this comical low, quiet sound like he's a computer who's thinking too fast, then he opens his mouth and it stops, "Kissme." He just spits it out, what you think was two words has now become one syllable.

But damn, you got the A-okay, and do not want to waste it.

You let go of his hand and guide his chin up, and Karkat's rather obviously seeking for your eyes. You tilt your head as you lean in, rather delicately pressing your lips against his and then he's suddenly not brain-fried and kissing you back.

Strangest thing though, he's shy to get the ball rolling but not too shy to press his tongue against your lower lip. Not that there's a problem, you part your lips for him and your kiss goes from sweet and clean to slightly-turning-you-on.

Then there's a knock on the door and a sweet voice going "Dinner's ready!" and you and Karkat separate so fast there's a smack sound.

He clears his throat and yells back, "Alright, thanks."

You swipe the corner of your mouth with your thumb and he looks at you, stares, and gives you another bashful smile. Then you're up off the bed and going downstairs, following Karkat.

You're led into a dining room and his brother is already sitting there, absorbed in a book, so you follow Karkat's lead and sit down too, trying not to look like you sort of just made out with this lady's son.

"Thank you so much for joining us Dave, we always love to have company-", and before she can finish, there's someone walking in the front door, which she excuses herself for and goes up to... You dunno, greet them?

It sounds like she's greeting someone, you hear muffled "hello honey"s and his mom says "Karkat brought a boy home," which makes you think, based off the structure of that sentence and the way she didn't say "Karkat brought a friend" or "we have a guest", that you may have misinterpreted his family.

Karkat glances at you like he's sorry, then the man you saw in the photos comes in with his wife walking around him, and sits down before introducing himself. "Hello son, we didn't know we would have company tonight."

You look up across the table and sort of nod at him, "Hey, I'm Dave. Yeah, I didn't really expect to be company either." For some reason, that gets a laugh out of the guy.

He welcomes you again and you think Karkat is embarrassed, although you don't know why, when his family is totally chill and they don't have puppets littered all over the goddamn place. Sigh.

The older brother seems pretty disinterested in talking and more interested in reading, so you try not to bother him and mostly eat and talk with Karkat. Occasionally his parents ask you questions, like if you work and where, where you went to high school, little questions about your home life.

They're pretty nice people altogether, and when you're done, his mother insists on taking your plate rather than you walking it to the kitchen, so you give it to her, say thanks, and you and Karkat go back to his room.

"Sorry if that was weird," he says, sitting in front of his computer.

"Nah, your family is super cool." You tell him, and you straight up mean it. Your brother would make an ass out of you and then have Karkat running for the hills.

He turns around to start his computer up and you look around for a few seconds before deciding to just ask, "Are you like, out to your family? I'm just asking cause it seemed like they knew who I was, kinda. Y'know?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. I am. It's cool here, don't worry about that stuff. Except my mom could get a little overbearing so.. Beware." He scratches his head.

"Oh, mhmm, alright." You lean forward on your knees, looking at the rug around you.

Karkat doesn't seem to know what to say, and you don't have anything to say, so he turns to power up his computer. You sit up straight, crack your back, and lie down across his bed, which is very comfortable even with the balled up blankets.

\--

You're checking your chat clients and notifications currently, because you haven't since before noon, but if you're honest with yourself, it's because you're socially inept or something and don't know how to talk to people you like. Especially without being insulting.

You look back at Dave and he's laying on your bed, and he doesn't acknowledge you kind of staring, so you go back to harshly typing out a sonnet of metaphors and accidental gross innuendos to your friend. She's pretty accepting of your crap. Oh, and encouraging you to get off the computer.

"He Is Literally In Your Bed" she says. "And You Are Here, Talking To Me About How He Is Quite Literally In Your Bed. Emphasis On In Your Bed. Get Off The Computer Karkat."

You think that counts as support? You're just not sure what to do, which you tell her, because you're hopeless and pathetic and unsure of yourself.

The conversation with your friend doesn't last for very long, which tells you that you should finally listen to her and get off the chat. You look back at Dave and he hasn't moved, except his breathing is a lot slower.

You keep watching, because you think he may be... Asleep. Or got carried away with "resting his eyes".

"Dave?" You whisper, and he doesn't react. Is this bad?

You get off the computer chair and crouch by the bed, trying to see around his sunglasses, and it definitely looks like his eyes are closed. You go out on a limb and reach for his glasses, overcome with curiosity, and delicately lift them off his face, which he still hasn't reacted to either.

It then occurs to you that he may notice (and be affected by) the change in light, so you turn a lamp on and the ceiling light off, before sitting opposite of Dave and inspect his sunglasses. They scream "typical douche" but they fit Dave pretty well. Which might make him a typical douche.

You look down at Dave's sleeping face and now you realize you want more of that. You want to see him talking and you want to see him when he laughs without his glasses. You bet once you do though, you'll never want him to put these things back on.

You haven't known Dave very long at all, but you can see he wears them a lot because his eyelids are much paler than his cheeks and his nose and he has a fucking stupid tanline from the arms of his sunglasses across his temples.

Dave also has very light eyelashes and eyebrows, and you can't imagine the last time his lashes saw the bare sun.

You decide this is getting a little too personal and put his glasses on the computer desk.

\--

You wake up and you don't know where you are. You don't have a slanted ceiling- where are your photos- you sit and blink at the room you're in, trying to adjust your eyes to the darkness.

Then you realize you're in the company of someone and look over. It's Karkat, his body perpendicular to yours, and he's asleep. In his bed. You fell asleep at his house, on his bed. God, that is lame. You'll have to apologize for that.

You grab your phone and shine your light around the room, looking for your- there they are. You put your sunglasses back on, check that you have everything you came in with, and decide you shouldn't stay.

That doesn't mean you have to leave without a word, though.

You go over to Karkat's side of his bed and put your hand on his shoulder. He wakes up abruptly and pushes his wet hair out of his face before blinking rapidly at you, trying to make out your silhouette.

"Hey." You say. "Sorry I fell asleep like that, I'll make it up to you."

"Dave..." He grumble/mumbles, "Are you leaving?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, okay." He says, clearly a little out of it, "Bye. Call me." You chuckle at that.

"I will, good night." He closes his eyes and you kiss his eyelid before standing up and silently walking out of his room, trying very hard not to make noise while shutting the door.

The room next to Karkat's opens a crack, and it's his brother, watching you silently.

"Bye." You say, not sure what else to do.

He closes the door on you. That guy seems weird.

Ignoring what was barely an encounter, you tiptoe down the steps and go outside to your car, where you finally check the time. Jesus, it's 1AM. Your embarrassment over falling asleep like that finally sets in and you have to set your head down on the steering wheel for a minute or two just to cringe.

If you're lucky, Karkat won't mind as much as you do, and he'll let you take him out again sometime. "To make it up to him," you remind yourself.

God, okay, you go home and quickly shower before getting into your own bed and try to sleep it off. You're already pretty psyched to see him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm never sure how or where to cut these off. It's also pretty straightforward and short, whoops.


End file.
